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The Anti-Corruption Commission conducted a raid at the Bangladesh Cricket Board office situated at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on account of irregularities and corruption allegations on Tuesday.Ìý

At around 12:00pm, a three-member team of the ACC paid a sudden visit to the BCB headquarters, which went for almost one and a half hours.Ìý

A letter issued by the headquarters of the ACC read that the team was sent for an enforcement raid on account of the allegations of corruption that include the selection process of various cricket leagues under the Bangladesh Cricket Board.Ìý

Later, the deputy director of ACC Al-Amin said that the raid was based on mainly three accounts.Ìý

The first one was alleged corruption in the third division qualifying league.Ìý

In 2014-15, the entry fee for the league was increased from Tk 75,000 to Tk 5,00,000, and as a result, the number of teams dropped abruptly.Ìý

‘In previous years, the application fee was set at Tk 5 lakh. At that time, only two or three teams would apply, and one or two would be selected from those,’ said Al-Amin.Ìý

‘This time, when the fee was reduced to Tk 1 lakh, 60 teams applied. ÌýWe have collected the documents and will now verify and investigate these matters.

‘There might be some reasons. We will see if there was any intervention from the board or any personnel. And one thing is clear: there might not be such freedom to participate; there might be some pressure. That’s why the teams didn’t come,’ he added.Ìý

The other two allegations are related to the Bangladesh Premier League — irregularities in earning money from ticket sales and embezzlement of money during the Mujib Barsha.Ìý

‘From the third to the 10th season of the BPL, BCB had income from ticket sales. It was shown that the revenue from those eight seasons was around Tk 15 crore. But in the 11th season, when BCB sold tickets themselves, the income was reported to be around Tk 13 crore,’ the ACC official said.Ìý

Later, Mahmudul Hasan, another deputy director of the ACC present during the raid, spoke in detail about the irregularities at the festival of the 100-year celebration of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Ìý

‘Tk 25 crore was shown as the expenditure of the arrangement, including a concert. But in reality, the expenditure was around Tk seven crore. So there was an anomaly of around Tk 19 crore,’ said Mahmudul. Ìý

Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the chief executive officer of the BCB, was present during the raid.Ìý

He later told the reporters that the BCB would cooperate fully with the ACC.Ìý

‘We will cooperate fully with them. As the matter is currently being investigated, nothing more should be said,’ said Nizamuddin.Ìý

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